Bubblegum & Cupcakes
by chloebeale
Summary: Cat convinces Sam to dye her hair a "cuter" color. The color? Pink. Cat's really hard to say no to, okay!


The supermarket wasn't the easiest place to be with Sam Puckett. As a self-described "food enthusiast," Sam tended to go overboard buying groceries, and this day was no exception. Sam always made sure they were well-fed, and if it weren't for her, Cat probably would have attempted to survive on cookies alone.

"Protein is important," Sam told her friend emphatically as she ran her hands across a package of steaks, "as much as I love cookies and bibble, mama's gotta live on more than snacks."

Having decided that particular piece of meat was up to par, the older girl thrust it into their full shopping cart as Cat put her feet up on the bottom bar and let the cart steer itself...toward an end cap of cereal boxes. Sam glanced up from her ham inspection when she heard her friend's familiar squealing sound. Immediately upon noticing the boxes on the floor and Cat's panicked expression, she rushed over and pushed the cart, with Cat still on it, quickly out of the way.

"Nothing to see here!" she said as she ducked down the nearest aisle.

"Wow, thanks for saving me, again," Cat gave her a dizzying grin, stepping down from the now stationary vehicle.

She gasped when she realized what aisle they were in, flailing her arms with the kind of excitement only Cat could portray. Sam bit back a smile, watching the girl's display.

"What now?" Sam asked, "I swear, you're worse than the kids we babysit. You're like, a toddler or some chiz."

"How did you know I needed hair dye?!" Cat interrupted loudly, grabbing Sam's arms.

"Uh...I didn't?"

"Well, I do! The red's fading a little. But what about you? Maybe you could change things up a little?" The redhead suggested innocently, grabbing onto Sam's hair and twisting it around her finger.

"What? Are you saying I'm not a hot blonde?" Sam pretended to be offended and Cat widened her eyes a little.

"Um, no, but I'm just saying, maybe streaks or something, you would look nice with a little color," Cat explained, her voice dropping a bit at the hostility she perceived, "it would look cute."

"I'm not cute."

Cat ignored her comment and perused the available colors, checking to see what they had and thinking about what would look best with Sam's complexion. She had an eye for these sort of things.

"Maybe...pink?" She held up a box of pink dye and Sam shrugged.

"Pink?! Who do you think I am, Barbie? That's not gonna happen."

"It will look cool!"

"I already look cool," was Sam's protest.

"It's just a color, what's the worst that could happen?"

"I'll look like Princess Bubblegum threw up on my head, that's the worst that could happen."

"No, you won't! Come on, Sam! Just try it? Please?" She sounded like a child begging for a candy bar, and she was not letting up.

Some of the other customers were staring but Cat didn't notice. She had her arms crossed now and was giving the typical begging face that every five year old had perfected.

Sam didn't know what she expected, but standing there watching Cat stick her lower lip out and give her puppy dog eyes had a strange effect on her. Wondering why it was she felt the desire to make Cat smile, or why she went out of her way not to be mean to her when that was against her nature, she didn't argue with Cat putting the box in the cart along with her own Red Velvet Cupcake coloring.

Begrudgingly she pushed the cart back down the aisle with her roommate bounding happily beside of her.

When they finished checking out, they loaded their things into Sam's recently purchased sidecar, and climbed onto the motorcycle. Cat settled her arms around Sam's waist comfortably, making sure to hold on tight as the vehicle roared to life.

Thanks to Sam's surprisingly good driving skills, the two of them managed to get home safely. After they put away the groceries, Sam and Cat went into the bathroom to dye their hair. Sam put on the gloves and mixed up the other girl's hair dye first, making sure to cover every inch of her hair. Cat opened the bathroom window as the fumes filled the small room. She then opened the box of pink coloring and asked Sam where she wanted the streaks.

"Yeah, I don't know, I'm starting to think this is a bad idea."

"What? Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo-"

Sam clamped her hand over Cat's mouth.

"If it'll get you to-" she paused, suddenly pulling her hand away, "did you just lick me?"

Cat nodded proudly.

"You really live up to your name, don't you?" she squinted her eyes at her accusingly.

"I guess so," the younger girl giggled, "so which part of your hair do you want to highlight?"

Knowing when she'd been bested, Sam sighed. If her friends back home found out about this, she'd never live it down.

"You know what? Let's just go for it. Cover it all. You're right, it'll look really cool, won't it? And if it doesn't, we'll just dye it back to normal. No harm done."

"Your whole head? We're gonna look like red velvet cupcakes and bubblegums! Like yummy dessert and candy! Oh, yay! I'm so excited!"

"How much sugar have you consumed today?" Sam wondered dubiously.

"Shh I need to concentrate," Cat slathered pink dye across the top of Sam's head, not bothering to wear gloves.

Sam closed her eyes, hoping for the best. When it was time, they both rinsed their hair and sat on the couch watching reruns of That's a Drag while waiting for their wet hair to dry. It didn't take long before the two of them were standing in front of the mirror, admiring Sam's hair.

"You...look...so...cool!"

"I do, don't I?" Sam smirked, fluffing up her pink curls.

"Let's take a pic!"

Cat took her cell phone from her pocket and positioned it in front of them, nudging Sam and telling her to smile as she put her arm around her shoulder. The flash went off and she looked at the picture she'd just taken.

"Hey! It's us!"

"And we look goooooood." Sam drawled, "You should print this one out, we could frame it or something."

"Let's take more!" Cat demanded, putting the phone back in front and leaning over to kiss Sam's cheek, holding her lips there while she took the photograph.

Sam pushed away the moment after, her face unreadable.

"I think it's time for dinner."

Without looking back, Sam hurried out of the bathroom to the kitchen. Her mind was reeling. She hadn't known Cat for very long, yet somehow they seemed a lot closer than she had ever been with Carly. Cat was so touchy-feely, too, and normally something like that would really bother Sam, but yet she didn't mind as much as she thought she would. If she hadn't known better, she would have thought that she'd felt her cheeks grow warm when Cat kissed her cheek a moment ago. But Sam Puckett didn't blush.


End file.
